West Indian Girl

Just received an email from a long lost friend of mine who I grew up with back in Brookfield, WI. I’d been trying, unsuccessfully, to find him for quite some time. He recently appeared on LinkedIn, and finally responded to my invitation.

In his email, he wrote about a few bands that he has been listening to. I’d heard of some of them, but never West Indian Girl. So, I spent the morning checking them out, and I’m really blown away.

Sometimes the timing of finding a band is just perfect. It’s not necessarily that they’re the best band out there or “the next big thing.” But when you find a band at just the right moment, it’s like hitting a pitch so perfectly that you don’t even feel the bat hit the ball (for all you sports analogists out there).

West Indian Girl (MySpace link) is a great fusion of psychedelic influenced alternative pop with well-timed electronic and acoustic touches. They quite remind me of Band of Bees (who comes from the same label, Astralwerks) – another one of my favorites bands – and also The Verve (of “Bittersweet Symphony” fame), a bit. You know those bands that you can hear, regardless of your mood. Those are rare bands. Not always my favorites, but always appropriate.

Check out their video for “Hollywood”…

And their video for “Sofia”…

Mom always said “send a thank you note.”

As I mentioned in earlier posts, we’ve (NewTunes) have been looking for an advertising agency or some creative talent who can help us with upcoming marketing and promotional efforts.

We’ve spoken to a number of agencies and individuals. There’s probably nothing ground-breaking about our selection criteria – past work, existing and past clients, recent successes and failures, personal and institutional chemistry, etc.

But one thing has shocked me: With all of our interviews/conversations, we’ve only received one thank you note. And it wasn’t just a thank you note. It was a thank you note from all of the people at the meeting plus a CD (that may or may not have been created just for us) of music from 2008 SXSW bands (SXSW = South by Southwest in Austin, TX… just in case you didn’t catch the acronym).

Parents teach us a lot of things growing up, and one of those things I heard over and over is to always send a thank you note – especially when interviewing for a job. It’s something I’ve always done.

A thank you note is a great way to remind the interviewer you exist a few days after the conversation. It shows thought and effort above and beyond the other interviewees. A thank you note, unlike an email, is also a tangible thing that can sit atop a desk or be pinned to a bulletin board, reminding the recipient of you when they may be needing someone who does what you do. Not to mention, it’s polite, as well.

While I’m not going to make a decision solely on this, it certainly helped the already strong standing of the agency who sent it.